Join rarescale – Amy Jolly (cello) and Carla Rees (baroque and Kingma system flutes) – as they embark in a new collaborative adventure, exploring and developing new repertoire for their instruments in relation to the present and the past. An Invite to Delight brings together duos and solos, including two new commissions – Hues, Blues and Desalination – Ellen Sargen’s depiction of the colours that paint the past, present and future of our planet and David Gorton’s Inventions to delight, bringing the music of William Byrd and John Johnson into a contemporary idiom. The programme also includes Sam Hayden’s 2019 tour de force for solo flute, Attente.

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About rarescale

rarescale is a flexible-instrumentation new music chamber ensemble, formed by Carla Rees in 2003 with the aim of creating and championing new repertoire for low flutes. At the heart of the ensemble is a long-term collaboration between Carla Rees and low clarinets specialist Sarah Watts, exploring the potential of their instruments and bringing new works to an international audience.

rarescale is based in the East Midlands and performs frequently throughout the UK and internationally and actively collaborates with composers at all stages of their careers. The ensemble has recorded for BBC Radio 3, as well as 6 discs for its own label, rarescale records.

rarescale is a registered charity, which also incorporates an educational flute ensemble for advanced players, rarescale Flute Academy, and until 2019 held an annual summer school for flute players and composers. rarescale is affiliated with Tetractys Publishing, which publishes many of rarescale’s key repertoire works. During the pandemic, members of the ensemble explored telematic performance systems to enable them to perform together over the internet. Recent projects also include several recordings which are due for release soon.

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About Carla Rees

Carla Rees is a British low flutes player, composer and arranger, working to raise the profile of her instruments through performance, research and collaboration. She enjoys an international performance career both as a soloist, improviser and chamber musician; she frequently appears at international festivals and was a soloist for the National Flute Association’s Concerto Gala in Phoenix Arizona in 2023. Recent performances include in Brazil, USA and Japan as well as around the UK.

She is an established recording artist with a discography of over 30 titles, including concertos with the Royal Ballet Sinfonia and Neue Musik im Ostseeraum, as well as several world premiere recordings of works composed for her. She has also recorded for film, radio and video games. Her drive to create new repertoire for low flutes and baroque traverso has resulted in the premieres of several hundred works, many of which are now published by Tetractys Publishing.

She is Artistic Director of the contemporary chamber music ensemble rarescale, and its associated ensemble, rarescale Flute Academy. She leads low flute days and masterclasses, throughout the UK. She is also Artistic Director of the International Superflutes Collective, an ensemble which celebrates international friendship and collaboration.

Carla was appointed as the first Professor of Low Flutes and Contemporary Flute at the Royal Academy of Music in September 2021 and has taught masterclasses and led composer workshops at some of the world’s leading institutions, including the Juilliard School in New York and USC in Los Angeles. She is Editor of the British Flute Society’s magazine, PAN, and Commissions Coordinator for the National Flute Association of America.

Carla plays Kingma System flutes, made for her by Eva Kingma, Bickford Brannen and Lev Levit. She has a PhD from the Royal College of Music in London.

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About Amy Jolly

Amy is a cellist and creator living in Manchester, UK. Amy was recently awarded a PhD in performance practice from the Royal Academy of Music for her project The Intervening Cellist – Control & Creativity in Creative Practice.

Amy is co-founder of improvisatory group Playdates and folk duo Jassper, both with violinist Gemma Bass. She is also a member of trio Little Pillars (Rich Jones, piano and Gemma Bass, violin) and mixed-media duo Bonjour Claude with composer Ellen Sargen. Bonjour Claude run triannual scratch nights for northern-based cross-genre artists at Levenshulme Old Library.

Amy has performed with Psappha, Riot Ensemble and UPROAR and has been involved with CoMA Manchester since its revival in 2020. She has performed as a principal player with BBC Philharmonic, Opera North and Birmingham Royal Ballet and has appeared in pit bands for shows such as Hamilton and Mrs Doubtfire. Current work includes a commissioning project with low flute specialist Carla Rees and rarescale, and a folk music revival in schools in North Wales via BBC NOW Education.

Amy has previously been a recipient of the Charles Hallé Award and the Dame Gillian Brown Scholarship and has received support from the Richard Stapley Foundation, the Royal Society of Musicians, Britten-Pears Foundation and Help Musicians UK. Amy is lucky enough to play on a William Forster cello from London, 1780, and a Joules Coq cello from Toulon, 1850.